“Something to treasure”

The Gujarat State Archives has finally woken up to the fact that "Vadodara (Baroda) is fortunate to have Homai Vyarawalla as a denizen. Her work as the country’s first woman photojournalist is something to treasure,” in the words of Jitendra Shah, the person in charge of the state Records Department there. The State Archives has decided to make an official record of the 94-year-old photographer who has been residing alone in the Nizampura area of Baroda for nearly 30 years, according to a report in The Indian Express (IE) of March 31, 2009.

"We are planning to approach her and take her interview,” Shah informed IE, adding, "She has seen a lot during her long journey. Her experience as a photojournalist would be something a budding photojournalist or some research person would like to know… There are people who have made a mark in history through their extraordinary works. Our effort is to preserve their memories in our records.”

Homai Vyara­walla: witness to history

Navsari born Vyarawalla obtained an honors degree from Bombay University and a Diploma in Art from the J. J. School of Art. She married Maneckshaw, also a photojournalist, in Bombay. He had a tremendous influence on her as a photographer. In 1942 the couple moved to Delhi to work for the British High Commission, then known as the Far Eastern Bureau of British Information Services. The IE lists some notables who were framed in Vyarawalla’s camera — Lord Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth II, Jacqueline Kennedy, Soviet premiers Nikita Khrushchev and Alexei Kosygin, among a host of famous personalities.

"One can understand her stature from the fact that she was witness to so many historic events involving Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and others. It would be an experience in itself to hear from her about India’s freedom struggle, independence and other such events,” another official from the Gujarat State Archives told IE.